Sphere over Thorndale, PA

The report, as filed

I spotted a bright red, glowing, spherical shape in the northern sky from Thorndale, PA, around 10:00 PM on Friday night, October 18th. The glowing sphere would dim and brighten regularly. It appeared to stay stationary or slowly either drifting northwards. I observed the object for several minutes trying to determine what it was. The size of the object was way larger than any plane or helicopter that I normally see following a flight path from west to east in that area of the sky. The object was also much brighter than any lights I have seen flashing from any conventional aircraft. Therefore I was able to rule out the source of the red glow being from a plane or hovering helicopter. However, it was difficult to gage the exact height of the object and I started guessing at other possibilities, in case the object was closer to the ground than I could actually tell, such as a hot air balloon, a flare, or other hoaxes I know of revealed on UFO type TV programs. Nothing I could think of matched what I saw, and as I studied the object my depth perception was putting it much higher in the night sky than any of the other possibilities that ran through my mind. The closest match I have ever seen to this object is related to giant, colorful, glowing circular clouds produced from rocket launches, or intentionally created by a rocket for research. I have seen these before and that was my first inclination as to what the object was. However, 2 things changed my mind about that theory. 1) the object was in the northern sky. I have only seen rocket launch related phenomenon in the southern sky, particular from NASA from the southern DelMarVa peninsula. And the other is that this object had a bright light that would dim and brighten, and regular intervals, consistently At this point I decided the object was too unfamiliar and I became too excited and decided to show my wife and ran into the house and woke her. As we went to the window to view the object it was gone. I have since checked the news for any reporting of the object to find out what it was. I have found nothing and so decided to file this report in the hopes of someone providing an answer as to what it was, or just someone else confirming they saw it too.

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #114999). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.